Hello again to PA FIRST Tech Challenge Teams and volunteers,
Now that the unofficial summer is wrapping up, we hope you are all ready and excited for the start of the FIRST® Tech Challenge 2021-2022 Freight FrenzySM season presented by Raytheon Technologies. We are happy to report that we expect well over 100 teams competing teams in Pennsylvania this season with the majority already registered with FIRST FTC HQ. If you have not registered yet and plan to do so, please go to the following link and click on the “Dashboard Login” tab on the top right of the landing page to start the process.
https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc/cost-and-registration
As many of you are aware from Team Email Blasts sent from FIRST the Kickoff Celebration and game reveal of FREIGHT FRENZY will be held at 12:00 pm E.T. September 18th so all teams regardless of global location can enjoy the celebration and game reveal online. This will be broadcast on FIRSTtv. To augment the celebration, Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics will Livestream a portion of the day to both orient and personalize the festivities.
We plan on opening the day at 11:00AM with a presentation and overview of the FTC Pennsylvania Season hopefully including the review of our live Qualification Tournament sites that we are continuing to secure. Besides multiple “Traditional” events we may also conduct a Remote Tournament as well. More to come in this regard.
On or before 12:00PM we will switch over to the planned FIRSTTv programming. Teams may listen in with us or tune in on their own. We are not yet certain how long this will last but expect it to be less than 45 minutes.
Following the official; FIRST program we will then cut back to a live stream where our Head Referee Noah Dillard and others will review the game and rules in detail. This will primarily be an opportunity for participation in a live Q&A from you, our team members, mentors, coaches and volunteers. We will keep this open until at around 2:00PM or until we are satisfied that YOU are satisfied. We will confirm the platform we will use and provide a link to it soon and will post this on our website.
In addition, if team(s) do plan on hosting Kickoff parties and want to invite other teams in their regions please let us know, we would be happy to forward your invitation to others as appropriate.
Speaking of our Website, we want to thank all of you who provided feedback, comments and suggestions for our new-look website. If you have not visited this lately, please do, it went live to weeks ago and we continue to value your feedback.
Important: Please be aware that conducting a successful season and attendance provisions is very much dependent on the COVID situation as well as local, County and State guidance surrounding the scheduling dates of these events. Additionally, be aware that our plans are to keep the FTC PA program exclusive to PA teams this season as we conducted last year, Again, this is due to health uncertainties in other regions and states. That is the plan, however there may be need-based exceptions.
Please be sure to participate starting at 11:00AM on Saturday the 18th. Again, we will provide a link for you to join as soon as possible.
Thank you and stay safe!
All the best,
Tom Zawislak and Dave Hackett
Pennsylvania FIRST® Robotics
FIRST Tech Challenge® Program Delivery Partner
phone: (302) 383-9925
email: ftc@pennfirst.org
Website: www.FTCPenn.org